1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method, system and program product for calculating relationship strengths between users of a computerized network. Specifically, the present invention calculates relationship strengths between the users based on the electronic interactions therebetween.
2. Related Art
Computer networks are becoming a powerful tool in business. For example, today, many businesses implement private networks such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Virtual Private Network (VPN), etc. in an effort to streamline business processes and connect employees with each other. Such networks are especially useful in large organizations where employees are located in different geographic regions. Further, such networks can provide a central way for employees to communicate with each other, to access resources (e.g., documents), etc. In optimizing a network, it could be advantageous to recognize patterns in employees' interactions. That is, it could be advantageous to know the various relationship strengths between employees. Knowledge of relationship strengths is typically useful for expertise location, referral in knowledge management, electronic mail filtering, categorization in messaging, resource organization from data mining, etc. For example, employee “A” might require expertise in a particular area. Upon searching a company database, employee “A” might realize that employee “B” in another location has the needed expertise. It would be advantageous for employee “A” to be able to determine if he/she has a relationship in common with employee “B” who could make an introduction.
Unfortunately, calculating a relationship strength between two individuals is not an easy task. In the above-incorporated patent application, several factors relating to relationship strength detection were discussed. For example, the quantity of times an employee e-mailed another could be an indication of their relationship strength. Further, the number of times an employee appeared in another employee's calendar was discussed as being an indicator of relationship strength. In any event, the amount of data required to make such determinations often makes implementing such systems overly burdensome. Moreover, the accuracy of the results could not be guaranteed, especially in special cases.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a method, system and program product for calculating relationship strengths between users of a computerized network. Specifically, a need exists for a system that can calculate relationship strengths with an high level of accuracy, and without requiring a large volume of data to be collected.